I want to wish a Happy 1st Father’s Day to my son, Quinn, who became a father a week ago. What a bounty of joy to welcome my grandson and to witness my son so naturally assume the role of father. Welcome to the world, Carter Andrew Vesely, and welcome to fatherhood, Quinn.

The Poem I Cannot Write
—for Carter Andrew Vesely with much love from your Grandma Shannon

When you were born,
the vault of my heart swung open,
and all my words were swept away 
in the great torrent of my love.

But even if the dam had not burst—
my best words still eager for release—
what page could hold such joy?

The poem I cannot write is here
in your small ears which curl like fox kits
into this nest of black hair
so dearly like your father’s,

and here in your mother’s eyes 
which cradle you even as you sleep 
in the bassinet across the room.

It is here in the years which take me back
to the day I met your father,
a miracle, too,
who left me speechless and smitten 
and forever changed.

And it is here in the tide of arms 
which pull you onto the long shore of family
stretching deeper and wider than you can imagine.

The poem I cannot write is a locket
which holds a single word:

You.